YouTube is going global with 50 more original channels

About year ago YouTube introduced its original programming strategy with content being produced by celebrities in the United States. Now the video sharing site is going global with country-specific content coming in France, Germany and the UK.

“A lot has happened since we announced nearly 100 new original channels coming to YouTube: 7-year-old Ruby taught Amy Poehler about feminism. Rainn Wilson interviewed Deepak Chopra in the back of a mysterious van, and Phil DeFranco’s SourceFed became one of the hottest comedy news shows on the Web or TV,” said YouTube’s VP, Global Head of Content, Robert Kyncl in a blog post.

Given the success of these and the tens of millions of other amazing channels already out there, we still know there’s more great content to find, follow and fall in love with on YouTube. That’s why today, we’re excited to launch a new generation of original channels coming from France, Germany, the UK and the US.

In the next few months, the company plans to roll out new original channels to the European countries, as well as globally. In the US, it will add more than 50 original channels to the 100 it introduced in the last year.

According to Kyncl, the top 25 original channels currently average more than a million views every week. He states that up to 800 million viewers “are watching 4 billion hours every month”, which is up “from three-billion hours earlier this year”. The site as also seen its subscriber numbers double year-on-year. Its partners are reaching the 100 000 subscriber mark five times faster than they were just two years ago.

According to the New York Times, Google is so intent on this project being a success that is investing an additional “$200 million in the channels — on top of the $100 million it invested last year — to market the shows, pay for production equipment and, in some cases, pay the full production costs.”

“…this new lineup of original channels will have something for everyone. They are backed by some of the biggest producers, well-known celebrities and emerging media companies from Europe and the U.S,” says Knycl.

The former Netflix executive has spearheaded the original content push for Google reports AllThingsD, he says that the channels might need “a couple of years to gain a certain velocity and a certain volume.” YouTube plans on giving the channel producers more incentives to work for the platform once this velocity is achieved.

“What we will look to do is provide them with greater revenue predictability, for multiple years, so they can focus on building their channels and on building their audiences,” says Knycl.